A new project will help measure the impact of the European climate-neutral road transport system research

Ricardo is leading a consortium of thirteen partners that has been awarded funding by the European Commission to assess the impact and effectiveness of the Towards Zero Emission Road Transport partnership’s (the 2Zero partnership) research programme, which aims to reduce the emissions from and improve the efficiency of road transport within Europe.

Road transport is the backbone of mobility for people and goods across Europe. However, transport is responsible for nearly one quarter of the European greenhouse gas emissions, with road transport being accountable for approximately 72% of these emissions. Currently, more than 70% of passenger journeys are made by car, and 75% of all the goods transported across Europe are delivered by road freight transport. Estimates suggest that passenger transport will increase by 42% and freight transport by 60% by 2050, making it ever more difficult to achieve Europe’s environmental ambitions. 

The impact on the environment and human health of road transport means that the European Commission has set a long-term ambition to phase-out conventionally fuelled cars and road freight vehicles from urban centres and achieve a climate-neutral, clean road transport system for Europe by 2050.  The 2Zero partnership was established to investigate the different, multi-sector, affordable, clean-mobility research and innovative solutions that are necessary to achieve zero tailpipe emission road transport in urban and rural areas. 

Given the importance to human health, the environment and the economy of the 2Zero partnership’s work, a consortium led by Ricardo, incorporating its German and Athens (E3-Modelling) based teams, and including AVL, Emisia, VDI/VDE Technik and ERTICO among others, will undertake a two-year project to measure how close 2Zero will come to achieving its targets. The focus of the project is to evaluate and monitor the key performance indicators from the research and innovation projects currently being conducted within the partnership, including: ZEFES  Transensus LCA and XL-CONNECT, in which Ricardo participates. Ricardo and partners will create a common framework for monitoring the key performance indicators of the 2Zero partnership, they will assess and quantify the impact of the partnership’s results and the effectiveness of the partnership within the road transport research programme.

Dr Simon Edwards, Global Director, Technology for Ricardo said: “Ricardo has a proven track record engaging with governments, other public and private organisations across the transport and energy sectors: we provide the trusted evidence and analysis required to make informed decisions about deploying innovative solutions, for example related to transport electrification and the use of alternative, clean and renewable fuels. We are encouraged that the 2Zero partnership’s preceding programme has already shown that nine million tonnes of carbon dioxide can be saved by 2030, and that 30 billion Euros of investment in research and innovation will deliver a 40:1 return."

"Through our coordination of this consortium, the LeMesurier project, Ricardo is proud to be playing a role, in shaping the future research agenda, and defining the means to measure its effectiveness.”

Find out more about our strategic advisory services

Funded by the European Union. However, views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only: they do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or of CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.